Friction device for holding window-curtains.



W. L. GONWELL.

FRICTION DEVICE FOR HOLDING WINDOW CURTAINS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.9, 1912.

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Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

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THE AORRIS PETERS co.v PHOYO-LITNOU WASHINGYOfL D c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER L. CONWELL, OF MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO TRANSPORTATIGNUTILITIES COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

Application filed January 9, 1912. Serial No. 670,234.

To aZZ whom it may concern Be it lmown that I, \VALTER L. CoNwnLL, acitizen of the United States, residing at Montclair, in the county ofEssex and State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Improvementsin Friction Devices for Holding Window-Curtains, of which the followingis a full, clear, concise, and eXact description, reference being had tothe accompahying drawing, forming a part of this specification.

M invention relates to a friction device for lioldir'i Window curtains.

(fine of tdie dbjects of my invention is to provide a device for holdinga curtain in any desired position by means of friction acting inopposition to the action of a spring which tends to move said curtain.

Another object is to provide friction holdin'g "means whidh 'iseffective to resist movenieiit'of the curtain in one direction but notin the 0p osite direction.

knoth'r object is to provide means perihittin' a manual release of thefriction when esired.

A further object is to provide a friction device of simple andeconomical construction.

The invention may be embodied in various forms. in the accompanyingdrawings I have illustrated two embodiments which I have worked'out inpractice and which have certain practical advantages. I do not limitmyfs'el'f,'of course, to these two forms.

- The views in the drawings are as fol- *lowsi' Figure 1 is a sideelevation partly in sectidnof one form of friction device. Fig. 2 is anend elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a plan View (if the blank from whichthe main body portion ofthe device is formed. Fig. 4 is a side elevationof another form of friction device.

Referrin toat'h'e first form illustrated, a rod is shown which isapplied to the lower end of a window curtain or shade in the usualmanner. The rod is made in two sections 1, "1 'as is customary, "thesections being adapted to 'be drawn toward each other by means of thepinch handles 2, which are preferably arranged about the middle of l'thestops 9.

the lower edge of the curtain. Ihe handles 2 are normally held apart bys rings 3, but may be moved together again t 'the action of said springsto permit a ready raising or lowering of the curtain in the mannerhereinafter described. Each end of one of the sections of rod 1 hassecured thereto a shoe provided with a friction device. These shoes aremade preferably in right and left hand forms. Inasmuch as the two slicesand the parts associated therewith are sub stantially identical, I haveillustrated and will describe only one of them from whidh the operationof the other will be clear l apparent. The end of the section of rod fis suitably secured to a shoe, comprising side plates 4. Said rod may besecured thereto in any suitable manner, as, for example, by rivets. Thetwo side plates, together with a connecting strip or wall 5, arepreferably integral, being stamped from a blank as shown in Fig. 3, andprovide an iiiclosure within which the friction wheels 6 are located.These wheels are constructed of tiny suitable material and are ada ed toearn freely except when restrained I the small rollers 7 which arewedged or jammed between the peripheries of said wheels and the adjacentguides 8. These guides constitute in effect a continuation of the wall 5and are struck up from the blank. Abutments 9, also preferably struck upfrom one metal of the blank, are provided to prevent the rollers 7 fromriding overon to the hpposite side of the wheels.

Although the rollers 7 are illustrated its circular in outline, otherconfigurations may, of course, be employed. For example, the rollersmight be of polygonal outline, or small cams might be employed.

The wheels 6 are adapted to run in the usual groove provided in the sideof the window where this type of curtain is ethployed and said wheelsbear against the bottom walls 10 of said groove. It willbe apparent thatthe device as a whole may descend freely when the curtain is drawn downby hand, as during the descent the wheels as seen in Fig. 1, rotateclock-"wise, thereby tendin to movethe rollers '7 toward hen the shoe ismoved "upwardly, however, the rollers 7, which are normally in theposition shown in Fig. 1, at once are wedged or jammed into the V-shaped end in the inclosure in which they are confined and act as abrake on the wheels. These rollers may be constructed of steel or othersuitable material. The parts are preferably so designed that the rollersexert suflicient friction to prevent the rod sections 1, 1 from beingraised in response to the action of the usual tortional spring tendingto hold the curtain, and hence the rod, in uppermost position. Thefriction between the wheels 6 and the stationary wall 10, however, isnot so great but that the curtain rod may be forcibly moved upward byhand, if desired, without moving the handles 2 toward each other, thewheels slipping in the grooves. Of course, it is apparent that by 1moving the handles toward each other the two sections of the rod and thevarious parts carried thereby, are moved toward each other, therebyreleasing the friction between the wheels and the grooves. Of course,when the handles 2 are pinched the curtain may be moved either up ordown freely. In addition, the curtain may be readily pulled down withoutpinching the handles and the curtain be forcibly raised, in spite of thefriction of the parts, without moving said handles toward each other. Itwill be further apparent that the curtain may be lowered to any desiredposition and left in that position.

In the form illustrated in Fig. 4, the wheels 6 are provided with smallcams 10, which I have illustrated in the form of small rollers,eccentrically pivoted at 11 and bearing against the peripheries of saidwheels to resist rotation thereof in one direction but not in the otherdirection.

I do not desire to limit myself to the details described andillustrated, as I am aware that other forms may be devised which fallwithin the scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention 1. In a curtain fixture, the combination of acurtain stick, a friction shoe carried by each end of said stick, eachfriction shoe comprising a casing provided with curved ends, wheelspivoted to the walls of said casing eccentric with said curved ends, androllers confined between the peripheries of said wheels and said curvedcasing ends, whereby rotation of said wheels in one direction will beopposed by the wedging of said rollers between the peripheries of saidwheels and the eccentric ends of said casg In a friction shoe, a guidewheel, an inclosing casing, said casing being provided with a wallapproaching the periphery of said wheel at an acute angle, and a rollerconfined in the space between said wall and the periphery of said wheel,whereby as said wheel is rotated in one direction, said roller willcrowd into said acute angle and exert a braking action on said wheel,and whereby as said wheel is rotated in the opposite direction, saidroller will be moved toward the open end of said angle to release saidwheel.

3. In a friction device for curtains, a supporting member, a wheelcarried thereby and freely rotatable, a guide also carried by saidmember and arranged adjacent the periphery of said wheel cooperatingwith said periphery to form a V-shaped inclosure, a roller locatedwithin said inclosure and normally tending toward the narrow end of saidinclosure, whereby rotation of said wheel in one direction tends towedge said roller farther into said narrow end, whereby said rollerexerts a braking efiect on said wheel.

4. A friction device for a curtain comprising, in combination, twoplates suitably spaced apart, a plurality of wheels arranged betweensaid plates and having their peripheries projecting beyond said plates,

guide walls also arranged between said plates and adjacent each wheel,one guide wall and the periphery of each wheel cooperating to form aV-shaped recess, and a roller located in each V-shaped recess andadapted to cause friction against the periphery of the correspondingwheel when said wheel is turning in the proper direction.

A friction shoe for curtain sticks, comprising an integral inclosingcasing, rotatable disks provided with uninterrupted peripheries andsmooth, flat sides, pivoted between the side walls of said casing, saidcasing having end walls approaching the peripheries of said disks atacute angles, and friction rollers confined between the peripheries ofsaid disks and said end walls to exert a braking action in one directionof r0- tation of said disks.

6. In a friction shoe, in combination, a plurality of guide wheels, aninclosure therefor, one wall of said inclosure approaching the peripheryof one of said wheels whereby a V-shaped recess is formed, and afriction device located in said V-shaped recess and adapted to exert abraking effect on said wheel during rotation in one direction but not inthe other direction.

7. In a friction shoe, in combination, a plurality of guide wheels, aninclosure therefor, said inclosure comprising an integral sheet metalstructure having one of its walls arranged approximately tangentially toone of said wheels to form a. recess for a friction device and afriction device movably mounted in said recess.

8. A friction shoe comprising an inclosing casing formed from a blank,said casing In Witness whereof, I have hereunto subhaving a pair of sideWalls, a connecting scribed my name 1n the presence of two cross Wall,and curved end Walls, the extremity of said curved end Walls terminat-Witnesses. ing near the open side of said casing, and WALTER L. CONWELL.guide wheels rotatably mounted in said side Witnesses:

Walls, the axis of said Wheels being held in T. M. CAMPBELL, fixedrelation to said side walls. T. F. BROTHERS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. O.

